The Federation had been awakened to the seriousness of the
matter of the injunction by the Debs case. A bill of its sponsoring
providing for jury trials in "indirect" contempt cases passed the Senate
in 1896 only to be killed in the House. In 1900 only eight votes were
recorded in the House against a bill exempting labor unions from the
Sherman Anti-Trust Act; it failed, however, of passage in the Senate. In
1902 an anti-injunction bill championed by the American Federation of
Labor passed the House of Representatives. That was the last time,
however, for many years to come when such a bill was even reported out
of committee. Thereafter, for a decade, the controlling powers in
Congress had their faces set against removal by law of the judicial
interference in labor's use of its economic strength against employers.
In the meantime, however, new court decisions made the situation more
and more critical. A climax was reached in 1908-1909. In February 1908,
came the Supreme Court decision in the Danbury Hatters' case, which held
that members of a labor union could be held financially responsible to
the full amount of their individual property under the Sherman
Anti-Trust Act for losses to business occasioned by an interstate
boycott.
Pages:
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294